By Kim Tae-jong
With only days before the start of the World Cup, Brazil is still divided over the wisdom of hosting the quadrennial event, a Brazilian journalist said.
In a recent email interview, Valter Junior, a journalist for Metro Brazil said, "People are complaining how much the government has spent on the stadiums when Brazil has other priorities like health and education," Junior said. "The riots are expected to happen again."
This comes on top of delayed preparations.
"Now the main problem is Arena Itaquera, the stadium for the opening game. It received two (test) games, but none of them at its full capacity. Arena da Baixada, em Curitiba and Beira-Rio also had schedule problems, but they are OK now, at least inside of them. Around them, you may find some problems," he said.
About Brazil's prospects, he was optimistic.
"The Confederations Cup title last year broughta lot confidence to the team. Brazil is one of the favorites, maybe the main favorite, because of its history and because it is playing at home," he said.
Brazil successfully defended its title with a 3-0 win over Spain in the final of the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup, where winners of the six continental championships competed.
But Junior said Brazil needs to fight hard against former World champions such as Germany and Spain.
"Brazil will have to fight against history, especially if it plays against Uruguay, which beat Brazil in the 1950 final. Argentina would be a hard opponent, and a defeat to them would be a real tragedy. And I would say that Germany and Spain are also favorites, although Brazil has beaten Spain for the past 30 years," he said.
Brazilians have low expectations for the Korea team, he said, especially given recent poor results in the team's friendly matches.
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| Valter Junior |
In a recent email interview, Valter Junior, a journalist for Metro Brazil said, "People are complaining how much the government has spent on the stadiums when Brazil has other priorities like health and education," Junior said. "The riots are expected to happen again."
This comes on top of delayed preparations.
"Now the main problem is Arena Itaquera, the stadium for the opening game. It received two (test) games, but none of them at its full capacity. Arena da Baixada, em Curitiba and Beira-Rio also had schedule problems, but they are OK now, at least inside of them. Around them, you may find some problems," he said.
About Brazil's prospects, he was optimistic.
"The Confederations Cup title last year broughta lot confidence to the team. Brazil is one of the favorites, maybe the main favorite, because of its history and because it is playing at home," he said.
Brazil successfully defended its title with a 3-0 win over Spain in the final of the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup, where winners of the six continental championships competed.
But Junior said Brazil needs to fight hard against former World champions such as Germany and Spain.
"Brazil will have to fight against history, especially if it plays against Uruguay, which beat Brazil in the 1950 final. Argentina would be a hard opponent, and a defeat to them would be a real tragedy. And I would say that Germany and Spain are also favorites, although Brazil has beaten Spain for the past 30 years," he said.
Brazilians have low expectations for the Korea team, he said, especially given recent poor results in the team's friendly matches.
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